November 23, 2020

Hearings Officer – A solicitation was put out for a Code Enforcement Hearings Officer.

Tater Tots Trail – Dan was super helpful in getting some drawings updated for the Walmart easement acquisition for the trail, that Walmart requested.

School – We worked collaboratively with the 8C School district this week to help keep some dogs off the Aiken school grounds. The dogs on the school property were tormenting a dog living behind the school and its owner.

Airport Manager Replacement – We conducted an interview cut for applicants for the airport manager job. The first-round interviews have been scheduled.

Graffiti - Councilor Rodriguez let me know about the graffiti on the underpass Tuesday morning. I’m happy to report that public works got it painted over the same day. The tagging on the utility box wrap was also removed without damaging the artwork.

Energy Savings Study – I met with Ameresco to go over the energy savings project. We looked through the list together. We are going to have a final meeting with Jacobs before coming to the City Council.

Homeless Shelter – We are having a weekly conference call for the homeless transitional shelter every Wednesday. It seems to be moving with a little clearer direction at this time. The critical path right now is the electrician. We got some commitments from our faith-based community for items needed for residents. They stand at ready to respond to help needed as very willing partners.

Airport
The repair to the perimeter fence at the north end of the field that was damaged after a police chase has been completed. The Airport rotating beacon is out of service again and a NOTAM has been issued. We are looking into a more reliable light. A set of plans to construct a new hangar has been turned in and will be reviewed by the Airport Committee Monday night as a first step toward approval.
Toby, Dan B. and Dan C. met with the FAA to discuss the master planning effort. They reported that it was a good meeting and we should be fine to move forward. We will be looking for a final scope of work and budget needs for approval of the agreement with JUB.

Fire & Rescue
Meetings
11/16/20 Some of the COVID-19 safety team met to work on the new OSHA rules and requirements that have come out for dealing with COVID-19.  11/19 Chief and others attended the weekly county COVID-19 Task Force Meeting.

Inspections
11/18 Chief met with the fire sprinkler company at Presbyterian care facility to work on a plan for the large remodel.  11/19 Chief did Knox Box follow ups at 3 dispensaries, and TVCC Vo-Tech. Chief worked with Manager at Marshalls for Occupancy limits, due to temporary COVID-19 restrictions.

Training
Due to the group restrictions from COVID-19 our training has been cancelled for a couple of weeks.

Events
11/17 Chief assisted with the county COVID-19 testing at the fairgrounds.

Incidents
This week the staff responded to a few burning complaints, some were illegal burns and others just nuisance reports.  11/14 The crew responded to an old, abandoned house on fire on SE 18th Avenue.  This was in the middle of an open field and was just being used as a flop house by transients that had started a fire and it caught the structure on fire.  The owner asked that we let it burn down, and we allowed that.  11/17 Rescue 1 responded for a gas smell at a business on SW 1st Street.  They shut off the gas and found no signs of leaks or unsafe gas levels, but they had Cascade Gas respond to check further. 

Human Resources
The Airport Manager recruitment window has closed. Staff will perform initial interviews for the top nine candidates of the recruitment. Candidates have been scheduled for December 2 and 4.

Police
Administration
Nov 17th-OPD hosted a department training day for sworn and reserve personnel. Training provided legal updates and re-certification for several state mandated areas of training such as ethics, Crisis Intervention Tactics, DUI enforcement, and non-lethal force options.   
 
Nov 18th- Chief Romero and the OPD Detective unit granted an interview and case review to the Malheur Enterprise for an unsolved homicide case from 2019. The Malheur Enterprise will run a story on this case in an effort to trigger some public assistance for additional leads and information that could assist with solving the open case.   
 
Nov 19th- Chief Romero met with HR Manager Hall to develop a job classification and bulletin for an upcoming employment opportunity for Code Enforcement Hearings Officer position(s). HR Manager Hall produced a compelling job solicitation flyer and position description.
 
Nov 19th- Chief Romero attended a Boys and Girls Club planning and board meeting. Chief Romero was recommended for and accepted the chair position for the Boys and Girls Club’s sustainability committee.
 
Nov 20th- Chief Romero reports that OPD’s city credit card was fraudulently obtained and used in the state of Texas recently. All steps have been taken to ensure the city is not liable for the expenditures and the fraudulent activity will be reported to the appropriate Texas law enforcement authorities. Chief Romero will use this OPD experience to remind the public (Via OPD Facebook) about best practices for reducing the odds of becoming a fraud victim. 
 
Field Services
Nov 16th- OPD responded to a shooting call at a business in downtown. The investigation revealed that the business owner accidentally discharged his personally owned handgun and was struck in the leg. The owner was transported to a Boise area hospital via life-flight. Injury was non-life threatening.   

Nov 16th- OPD responded to the Walmart parking lot regarding a frantic female yelling that her father had jumped off the East Idaho Avenue bridge into the Snake River. OPD’s investigation revealed that the female was having either drug-induced or mental illness induced hallucinations. The female’s family responded to the scene and were able to take her to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Nov 18th- OPD conducted a joint agency crime impact operation in efforts to curtail illicit drug related crimes.

Nov 19th-OPD responded to the Pilot Travel Center regarding two chronic, drug addicted homeless individuals that were already being sought by OPD. Both subjects stole from the location and were contacted nearby. One suspect surrendered without incident, while the other fled on foot and eventually brandished a knife at the officers who attempted to detain him. After a brief standoff and use of non-lethal force, the second suspect was arrested by OPD with the assistance of County and State law enforcement partners.

Nov 19th- Chief Romero, accompanied by city manager Brown responded to a downtown business regarding a complaint of the business not following current COVID 19 state mandates. The business owners were contacted and provided with educational information.

Nov 20th-Chief Romero conducted evening patrol operations with the night shift, to address no seatbelt and DUI violations. OPD responds to a high amount of traffic collisions and is looking to create a safer highway environment for all motorist during the upcoming holiday season. 

Code Enforcement
This week, code enforcement officers spent a substantial amount of time training and working on data migration for a newly procured data processing platform (iWorQ) that will be used by the city and OPD code enforcement. This new platform will improve work efficiency and communication between code enforcement and community members.

Code enforcement responded to two dog bite events this week involving the same dog and bite victim. The owner has been issued a citation for the identified violations.

CEO Reyna assisted Public Works with a report of a homeless camper who was trespassing on nearby lands and whos’ vicious dogs chased public works employees as they passed by.
 
Public Works
Field Services
Street sweeping is on-going for the next few weeks. Crews continue fall maintenance of storm water catch basins around the city. Crews installed a new level sensor in the Bench Reservoir tank. Leaves are being picked up.

Water
River Pump #1 is repaired and waiting for installation by the contractor. WesTec Unit #1 is out of service until new media beads are received.

Wastewater
The bio-solids removal contractor has removed 2,543 dry tons of biosolids from Lagoon #1 since dredging began Oct. 26th.

DMRQA Study 40 has been completed and submitted to the State.

Facilities
The air handling wheel motor for the City Hall HVAC system has failed. A replacement has been sourced and ordered.

Parks and Cemeteries
Staff continue mulching activities at Beck and Lions Parks. The Columbarium has been installed at Evergreen Cemetery. 

​Engineering
A rental flow meter will be installed at the Tapadera Lift station to determine capacity.